エジル選手、中国サッカーゲームから消される　ウイグル弾圧批判で

【上海ＡＦＰ＝時事】新疆ウイグル自治区における中国政府のウイグル人弾圧を批判したイングランド・プレミアリーグ、アーセナルのメスト・エジル選手（31）が、人気モバイルサッカーゲーム「プロ・エボリューション・サッカー」から削除された。中国版を配信しているオンラインゲーム大手の網易が明かした。（写真はイングランド・プレミアリーグ、アーセナルのメスト・エジル選手）
　網易によれば、エジル選手が削除されたのは「中国に関する行き過ぎたコメント」が理由だという。
　トルコ系ドイツ人のエジル選手は１３日、新疆ウイグル自治区における中国政府のウイグル人弾圧を非難するコメントをツイッターに投稿し、この問題でイスラム教諸国が声を上げていないことを批判した。
　アーセナルがエジル選手のコメントから距離を置いているのに対し、中国側は同選手のツイートは「偽りの意見に影響された」ものであり、「フェイクニュースに欺かれている」と述べている。
　エジル選手はトルコ語で「コーランが焼かれ、モスクが閉鎖され、イスラム神学校が閉校させられ、聖職者たちが次から次へと殺され、兄弟（イスラム教徒）たちが強制的に収容施設へ送られている」と書き込み、「それなのにイスラム教徒たちは沈黙している。彼らの声が聞こえてこない」と、イスラム教の国々が行動を起こさないことを批判した。
　網易はこの直後、エジル選手のコメントは「中国ファンの感情を傷つけ、愛や平和というスポーツ精神を冒涜（ぼうとく）した」と中国のソーシャルメディアに記していた。「われわれはこのコメントを理解しないし、容認も許容もしない」
　エジル選手の投稿を受け、同国の国営テレビは１５日に行われたアーセナル戦の放送を取りやめ、現在この件に関する議論は中国で厳しく検閲されている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/12/20-11:53）

Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil has been deleted from Chinese versions of the popular Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) mobile game, the title's China distributor has said, as the fallout continued over his criticism of the country's treatment of its Uighur minority.
US-listed Chinese internet company NetEase said it removed Ozil from the game due to his extreme comment about China.
Ozil, a German national of Turkish origin, condemned China's crackdown on Muslim minorities in the western region of Xinjiang in a tweet last Friday and criticised Muslim countries for failing to speak up about the alleged abuses.
Arsenal has distanced itself from his comments, while China said his tweets were untruthful and that he was deceived by fake news.
China has faced growing international condemnation for setting up a vast network of camps in Xinjiang, where critics say Uighurs are pressured to renounce Islam, support the ruling Communist Party, and integrate with China's majority Han culture.
Rights groups and experts say more than one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities have been incarcerated, part of a long-term government response to tame years of persistent violent unrest against Beijing's control of Xinjiang.
Ozil had tweeted in Turkish: Korans are being burnt... Mosques are being shut down... Muslim schools are being banned... Religious scholars are being killed one by one... Brothers are forcefully being sent to camps.
The Muslims are silent. Their voice is not heard, he wrote against a blue backdrop with a white crescent moon -- the flag of 'East Turkestan', the term many Uighur separatists use for Xinjiang.
Shortly afterward, NetEase announced on its verified Chinese social media accounts that Ozil's comments had hurt the feelings of Chinese fans and violated the sport's spirit of love and peace.
We do not understand, accept or forgive this comment.
China at first denied that the camps existed but, under growing pressure, later acknowledged them, saying they were vocational training centres.
Following his comments, Chinese state television dropped plans to broadcast the English Premier League club's match last Sunday, and discussion of the topic is now heavily censored in China.
In a similar episode, China moved in October to punish the NBA's Houston Rockets after its general manager Daryl Morey tweeted support for Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters.
Ozil has been praised on Twitter for speaking out, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also weighing this week.
China's Communist Party propaganda outlets can censor @MesutOzil1088 and @Arsenal's games all season long, but the truth will prevail, Pompeo wrote on Twitter, chastising China for its gross rights violations against Uighurs.
Turkey, which shares linguistic and ethnic ties with the Uighurs, has been outspoken on the issue but most Muslim-majority countries have been muted in the face of China's commercial and diplomatic power.